In collaboration with The Museum of Arts and Design we are pleased to present the inaugural “In Print/In Process“—a new series of artist talks and studio demonstrations featuring today’s most innovative makers—on Thursday, April 16th at 6:30 at MAD. Every two months, MAD and American Craft will team up to bring the articles in the magazine to life at the Museum. Visitors and readers will hear directly from the artists, and experience their materials and processes first-hand in the MAD Open Studios.

On Thursday, April/May cover-girl, weaver and painter Kathryn Pannepacker, will share her urban interventions. Trained in the French tapestry tradition, Pannepacker has melded her love of traditional weaving and textile work with gritty public art—creating murals in West and North Philadelphia that integrate textile designs from around the world with the industrial architecture of her neighborhood. Pannepacker’s work is subtly political, inherently social and deeply invested in the art-making process. In part one of this two-part program, Pannepacker will provide an overview of her 20-year career and discuss her recent projects, including her guerilla weaving “tags” that are stealthily appearing in cities across the USA.

About the artist:

Kathryn Pannepacker is a textile/visual artist living in Philadelphia. She graduated from Penn State University with a major in English and a minor in art, and apprenticed with 3rd generation French tapestry weaver, Jean Pierre Larochette and his partner, Yael Lurie, a painter and designer for tapestry. In Aubusson, France Pannepacker continued weaving as an artist-in-resident. Though still weaving pictorial tapestry, she also weaves with unusual materials. Through the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, Pannepacker painted a 7’ x 500ft wide mural called Wall of Rugs: the global language of textiles at Girard and Belmont Avenues featuring the textiles of 43 countries. Pannepacker exhibits locally, nationally and internationally, and has work in private and public collections. She is committed to the transformative power of art in people’s lives and the sustainability of such transformation by involving the community.

Watch Kathryn show and discuss her work:

Kathryn Pannepacker Part 1

Kathryn Pannepacker Part 2